Janus Henderson Takes the Nasdaq-100 Onchain, but Not for U.S. Buyers

Janus Henderson, which manages about $500 billion, launched a fund on Tuesday that tracks the Nasdaq-100 and lives only on the Stellar blockchain.

The fund, JQQQ, was built with tokenization firm Centrifuge.

The companies call it the first blockchain-native fund offering Nasdaq-100 exposure through an issuer-sponsored strategy. It is built to run onchain rather than mirror shares held elsewhere. Janus Henderson runs the strategy, Nasdaq licenses the index and Centrifuge supplies the onchain plumbing, the companies said.

Closed to U.S. buyers for now

The fund is open only to eligible investors where it can legally be sold. It is not available to U.S. persons. Legally, JQQQ sits inside Anemoy Capital SPC, a British Virgin Islands company, with a Janus Henderson U.S. unit as sub-manager.

The release calls the fees "competitive" but gives no rate. It also lists no minimum investment or start date for subscriptions.

Its risk section says tokenized shares carry extra risks beyond the stocks themselves, including failures of blockchain networks, smart contracts or wallets that "could delay or prevent transfers or redemptions."

A $1 billion onchain shelf

Janus Henderson said its onchain lineup now holds more than $1 billion across Treasuries, structured credit and stocks. Stellar's real-world assets passed $4 billion this year, the release said. Nasdaq's Sean Wasserman said "demand continues to grow for exposure to established, transparent benchmarks."

In our opinion: the index is famous, but the price tag is still a secret. The fee line is the one to ask for when subscriptions open.